Nancy Sandars
Nancy Sandars Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (1957) Fellow of the British Academy (1984) | |
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Academic background | |
Education | University of London St Hugh's College, Oxford (BLitt) |
Thesis | Bronze Age Cultures in France |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Archaeology Prehistory |
Sub-discipline | Bronze Age Europe Ancient Near East |
Website | http://www.nancysandars.org.uk |
Nancy Katharine Sandars
Early life
Sandars was born on 29 June 1914 in
Sandars was educated at home by a governess in her early years, and then at Wychwood School, an all-girls private school in Oxford.[1] She was a sickly child, ill with tuberculosis; this had affected her eyes, but she was successfully treated at a sanatorium in Switzerland.[3] As her education was interrupted by illness, she left school without any qualifications.[4]
Career
Early archaeological career
Sandars took part in her first
I remember I stood at the top of the stairs and threw pots and sherds to Kath standing at the bottom to put them in packing cases. She was a good catcher and I don’t think there were any casualties.
— Sandars describing the moving of artefacts at the Institute of Archaeology during WW2[1]
War service
Sandars began
Sandars's attitudes changed after experiencing
In 1942, she applied to and was accepted by the
Sandars ended the war in the rank of petty officer, and was later added to the Bletchley Park Roll of Honour.[8]
Post-war
After the end of World War II, Sandars decided to attend university. With no school qualifications, she had to take the "London Matric"; she passed and was therefore qualified for study at the University of London.[4] In 1947, she entered the Institute of Archaeology to study for a postgraduate diploma in Western European archaeology.
From 1946 to 1948, Sandars,
Sandars spent a year at the British School at Athens.[7] She then undertook postgraduate research at St Hugh's College, Oxford.[1] She worked with Christopher Hawkes, the then Professor of European Prehistory. She graduated from the University of Oxford with a Bachelor of Letters (BLitt) degree.[4] Her thesis for her BLitt was edited and became her first book, Bronze Age Cultures in France.[1]
In 1952, Sandars travelled to Greece to work on an excavation on the island of Chios.[4] This dig was led by Sinclair Hood;[4] Sandars and Hood had studied together, with both being at the Institute of Archaeology in 1947.[10]
As part of her research, Sandars undertook a number of trips exploring archaeological sites throughout Europe.
Sandars wrote a prose rendition of Epic of Gilgamesh that was published by Penguin Books in 1960. She used scholarly translations from the Akkadian by A. Heidel and E. A. Speiser and from the Sumerian by S. N. Kramer.[13] Her version proved very popular and sold over one million copies.[7]
Sandars continued her travels and research tours across Europe and the Middle East, visiting sites and museums.
Honours
On 2 May 1957, Sandars was elected a
Selected works
- Atkinson, R. J. C.; Piggott, C. M.; Sandars, N. K. (1951). Excavations at Dorchester, Oxon.: First Report. Oxford: Department of Antiquities, Ashmolean Museum.
- Sandars, N. K. (1957). Bronze Age Cultures in France. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107475427.
- Sanders, N. K. (1960). The Epic of Gilgamesh (1st ed.). Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0140441000.
- Sandars, N. K. (1971). Poems of Heaven and Hell from Ancient Mesopotamia. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
- Sandars, N. K. (1978). The Sea Peoples: warriors of the ancient Mediterranean 1250-1150 B. C. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0500020852.
- Sandars, N. K. (1985). Prehistoric art in Europe (2nd ed.). Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0140560305.
- Sandars, N. K. (1995). Gilgamesh and Enkidu. New York, NY: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0146001734.
- Sanders, Nancy (2001). Grandmother's steps and other poems, 1943-2000. London: Poets and Painters Press. ISBN 978-0902400689.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w "Nancy Sandars". The Times. 9 December 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
- ISBN 978-1576070901.
- ^ a b c "BIOGRAPHY – Early Life". Nancy Sandars. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f "BIOGRAPHY – Post-war and 1950s". Nancy Sandars. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
- ^ a b c "BIOGRAPHY – 1930s". Nancy Sandars. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f "BIOGRAPHY – 1939-45 War Years". Nancy Sandars. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Nancy Sandars, archaeologist - obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
- ^ a b "Roll of Honour: Nancy Sandars". Bletchley Park. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
- ^ "Podcast 102 - Collegiate Connections". Bletchley Park. Bletchley Park Trust. 30 December 2019. Archived from the original on 3 January 2020. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
- ^ doi:10.5334/ai.0305.
- .
- ^ a b "BIOGRAPHY – 1960s and Later Life". Nancy Sandars. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
- ^ Sandars, Nancy (1960). The Epic of Gilgamesh. Penguin. p. 50-51.
- ^ "Fellows Directory - S". Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
- ^ "SANDARS, Miss Nancy (29/06/1914-20/11/2015)". British Academy Fellows. British Academy. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
External links
- Her website
- The Lucid Past of Nancy Sandars - a biographical documentary about her life (75 mins, 2019)